Manual (National Zoo)

Dr. Devra Kleinman, National Zoo

Guidelines for the Housing and Maintenance of the Giant Pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) for non-breeding and breeding purposes.

Management

I. HOUSING (MINIMAL STANDARDS PER ANIMAL)

A. Breeding and non-breeding conditions

1. Indoor den – 3m X 3m (9 sq m)
2. Indoor exhibition cage – 7m X 8m (56 sq m)
3. Outdoor exhibition – 20m X 30m (600 sq m)

Cage sizes are to provide security in the den area, decent viewing and potential for activity in indoor exhibit areas and sufficient outdoor space for exercise. Each animal should have access to a den, indoor exhibit cage and outdoor enclosure.

B. Breeding facilities:

Zoos that want to be considered as breeding facilities should be prepared to have facilities to accommodate at least 4 animals in separate quarters. They must also have introduction areas and a facility design that permits easy shifting of animals between enclosures (see below).

The above recommended enclosure sizes for giant pandas is currently not achieved for most zoos in China.However, the Chinese themselves see the need for better facilities to improve the breeding of their animals. Additionally, the recommended figures are specifically for exhibition facilities.

C. Furniture

Cage furniture (both indoors and outdoors) must include raised platforms and other structures for climbing and exercising. (In nature, giant pandas climb trees to escape from conspecifics, but also to produce long calls for communication with other pandas at a considerable distance.) It is preferable to use wood or hard plastic for platforms or climbing structures rather than concrete. Shade and water in a pool are necessary for the hot summers. Cover outdoors will provide shade and can mimic the closed bamboo forest environment. Pools should be relatively shallow.

Cage furniture should provide both sexes with a method of avoiding interactions with other individuals, thus there must also be sufficient platforms for resting or “trees” for hiding. Also, multiple access/entry points to major preferred sites will provide escape routes should there be competition for these sites. Additionally, there should be structures which provide privacy and permit visual isolation of individual animals in the same enclosure. This can be achieved with baffles, “tunnels”, hollow logs, etc.

Obviously, the more experience each animal has with all enclosures, the more secure they will feel when interacting with a second animal within any given enclosure, i.e. their own cage or a potential mate’s enclosure. This familiarity may facilitate breeding. (e.g. the National Zoo pair only mated in 2-3 specific sites in the female’s cage).

Although it is best to have an opaque barrier between indoor dens and exhibition cages, part of the barrier between outdoor enclosures should be fencing (welded mesh) so that animals can interact when not in direct physical contact. Interactions between animals when separated can help in deciding when and whether to introduce any particular pair.

Wooden logs (without preservatives), branches (natural trees), and climbing furniture should be available for scent marking, chewing, and claw-marking. Objects with movement and flexibility ( e.g. hanging tires) that simulate natural objets can better maintain muscle tone and coordination, especially for developing cubs and animals that might be destined for reintroduction. In order to preserve natural odors, wooden furniture and other scent marked objects (rocks) should be disinfected on a regular but infrequent basis. Den and indoor cage floors, etc. can be disinfected daily with bleach (1 to 20 dilution).

Outdoor areas should have grass and other natural substrates. Giant pandas graze on grass and the leaves from some trees, if available. At NZP, giant pandas have willow trees which the animals occasionally eat. Japanese zoos have traditionally given giant pandas sugar cane for bulk and browse, but one should be careful about the potential for dental problems. We recommend trying different tree species for additional browse, especially those that have already been successfully used for other mammalian species at an institution.

D. Security:

Giant pandas, like most bears, require high security enclosures. They climb well and thus must have enclosures which have moats, smooth walls, and/or glass to prevent an escape if they are housed in cages which are not totally enclosed. They easily manipulate objects with their dexterous paws and claws, thus need to have locks, fastenings, etc. not exposed for easy access. If maintained behind fencing material, there should be at least 2 meters between guard rail and cage and access to the cage should be prevented by a functional barrier.

Shifting animals should be possible without the need for keepers to enter a cage in the presence of a panda. Thus, enclosures need to have externally controlled doors, and separate shift areas. Maximum flexibility for shifting (i.e. having a cage complex which permits shifting any animal into any indoor or outdoor enclosure) will permit the pairing and rotation of all animals; this is important for any institution which hopes to have more than a single pair of giant pandas. A squeeze apparatus may be incorporated into one of the shift areas.

E. Individual animal requirements:

There should be a full indoor and outdoor enclosure for each animal so that every panda can be completely separate from every other animal, should enforced separation be necessary or desirable. This separation should include visual isolation and as much protection from the sounds and odors of other animals as possible. Giant pandas are not innately social and if two animals are incompatible, considerable stress may result from enforced togetherness. Pandas should always be fed separately in order to monitor food intake and physical condition.

Inside enclosures and dens should provide greater isolation potential than outdoor enclosures. Each outdoor enclosure should provide some portholes/double mesh windows or doors to permit limited contact should the animals choose to interact while separated. This will also permit the slow development of familiarity without requiring introductions. These portholes/windows/doors should have covers so that the animals can be completely visually separated, if needed.

F. Cubbing dens:

Isolation areas are needed by females when pregnant or rearing a young. Denning areas are preferably small, dark, dry areas that mimic the natural caves or tree holes which females use for giving birth and rearing young in the wild. (Many captive females have given birth and successfully reared cubs in larger dens with concrete floors or in regular indoor enclosures. If there is an opportunity to provide choice, it would be useful to look at rearing success relative to type of denning options.) Females should be given access to nest-building materials, which can include bamboo stalks, branches from evergreens (e.g. pine trees) or dried leaves. A natural earth substrate is not recommended since the young may be maintained in the same area for as much as 2 months, and feces and urine will accumulate. A concrete or wooden substrate with an elevated “bed” (less than 12 inches high) on which the female may choose to nest will permit urine and feces to drain through. Cleaning of the denning area should be avoided for the first 2 weeks and then only done infrequently, when the female chooses to leave the area (some females may not drink or eat for a week after delivery and will not leave their young).

Cubbing areas should permit keepers to remove the infant rapidly and easily for monitoring health and weight, but without stressing the female. Females should not be forced to leave offspring, but examination of infants can occur once a female chooses to leave her young to eat, drink, or eliminate. The closer and more positive the relationship between the keeper(s) and the giant panda, the easier it will be for the keeper to manipulate or shift the female, and examine the infant without unduly stressing the mother.

Denning areas should not be brightly lit, and all zoos should strive to incorporate low-light remote video monitoring equipment into the design of cubbing areas.

G. Socializing:

Heterosexual pairs of giant pandas should be housed together for much of the day, if compatible. But they should be monitored carefully for signs of distress, especially during the breeding season when there may be more conflict. If there are multiple males and females, it may be possible to house giant pandas in large enclosures in single sex groups, however, considerable care is needed during the introductory period to permit animals to habituate to each other (see below). Giant pandas can have serious injurious fights (same sex or opposite sex) and thus unfamiliar animals should never be introduced without careful monitoring of their behavior. Enclosures must permit individual animals to escape from one another and keepers must have some method to separate giant pandas during fights. Finally, enclosures should strive to have at least one common corridor through which all individuals can be shifted.

H. Monitoring:

Giant panda facilities need to be built with the potential for remote video monitoring equipment to be installed rapidly and easily. Remote monitoring is especially important for dens and cubbing areas.

I. Enrichment devices:

A complex environment with as much natural vegetation as possible is preferred. Some natural vegetation to provide shade and evaporative cooling may need protection. Besides climbing structures, enrichment items should include balls, kegs, and hard plastic toys. The enrichment objects must be strong enough to withstand the jaws of a giant panda and obviously must contain no toxic materials, if ingested. Objects should be removed when they show signs of wear. (At NZP, black rubber cattle feed tubs, large tires, and several types of large hard plastic objects have been used.)

J. Critical resources to promote breeding:

In design of an enclosure, floors can be sloped to facilitate urine collection and the collection of other biological materials. The collecting (catchment) area can be a crack, drain pan, drain cover, etc. Pandas tend to urinate near walls and other large and upright surfaces, e.g. doors, poles, platforms.

II. TEMPERATURES:

Giant pandas are most comfortable with low temperatures and high humidity. Indoor temperatures should be maintained below 70 degrees F (21 degrees C). Giant pandas may show signs of heat stress when temperatures outdoors are over 80 degrees F. (26.7 degrees C), especially when they have been very active and do not have access to shaded areas. Misters can also help. Access to pools and ice, in the absence of air conditioning, is recommended. When temperature extremes occur (below 32 degrees F (0 degrees C) and above 80 degrees F (26.7 degrees C), giant pandas should not be forced outside, but be allowed access to both indoor and outdoor cages or kept entirely inside in a controlled environment.

Zoos expecting to maintain giant pandas indoors for considerable lengths of time due to weather conditions should be prepared to have their indoor enclosure much larger and more complex than the minimum standards mentioned above. Indoor enclosures should approximate the recommended size of outdoor enclosures in such cases.

A humidity level of 50-60% should be maintained, where possible.

III. SOCIALIZATION:

It appears that giant pandas live in small populations of familiar individuals in the wild, and that females probably mate with males they know. While a female may breed readily with one male, to increase natural breeding success, it is likely beneficial to offer females a choice of mates (there is no firm evidence that a female exclusively mates with a single male although mate preferences may exist). Socialization outside the breeding season can be used as a strategy to increase the frequencies of natural breedings since it decreases the time that the animals have to spend habituating to each other prior to mating and permits individual giant pandas the opportunity to adapt better to other individuals’ personalities and temperaments. Prior contact likely will result in decreased aggression during the estrous period.